THE FLATS – Georgia Tech’s golf team will travel to Arizona, the Chicagoland area and Long Island, N.Y., competing in four distinct areas of the United States against strong fields in each of its four fall events, finishing off the slate with the 15th Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Oct. 22-24 at its home course in Alpharetta, Ga.
Two events not played last fall because of COVID-19 return to the Yellow Jackets’ schedule this fall, beginning with the Maui Jim Intercollegiate Sept. 10-12 in Scottsdale, Ariz., and ending with the Golf Club of Georgia event.
Tech is competing for the fourth time at the Maui Jim, which includes 12 teams who compete in NCAA regionals last spring, four of which advanced to the NCAA Championship. The event is held at Mirabel Golf Club, located near the site of the NCAA Championship, Grayhawk Golf Club.
Thirteen postseason teams are among the 14 competing at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate, eight of which played in the NCAA Championship, including defending national champion Pepperdine and ACC powerhouses Clemson and Wake Forest, as well as traditionally-strong Western teams Southern California, Stanford, Texas A&M, TCU and UCLA.
In between are two events new to the Yellow Jackets, the Windon Memorial Classic Sept. 27-28 in Glencoe, Ill., and the Hamptons Intercollegiate Oct. 4-5 in East Hampton, N.Y. Eight teams that competed in NCAA regionals last spring are in the field for the Windon, including host Northwestern, at Lake Shore Country Club on the banks of Lake Michigan. Six NCAA regional teams, including host Loyola (Md.), will compete in the Hamptons event at the Maidstone Club, located along the Atlantic Ocean on Long Island.
“We want to provide as much of a varied experience for our guys as we can,” said head coach Bruce Heppler. “We wanted to head back to Arizona since the NCAA Championship will be out there once again, and it’s a holiday week, so we’ll play some extra rounds ahead of the tournament. We’ve never been to the Northeast, and there’s a lot of highly-rated golf courses on Long Island. Maidstone is supposed to be a heck of a place, and the golf course is Chicago is a great one. You never know where your NCAA regional will be, and these courses will be a great experience for learning and adapting to different environments, grasses and conditions.
“We’re proud of our home course (The Golf Club of Georgia) and enjoy having great teams from all over the country come here each fall. It’s a great opportunity to test our guys against a national field. We try and take care of the teams that come here, and the course presents a great challenge.”
The Yellow Jackets return four of five starters from last spring’s team that finished 15th at the NCAA Championship – senior Ben Smith (Novi, Mich.), juniors Connor Howe (Ogden, Utah) and Bartley Forrester (Gainesville, Ga.), and sophomore Christo Lamprecht (George, South Africa) – and are ranked No. 17 in the Bushnell/Golfweek Preseason Coaches Poll.